FLYING THE VISCOUNT
by R. G. Worcester
ALTHOUGH a great many different types of transport aircraft have been produced – especially since the War – the public imagination is seldom caught as it has been by the Viscount. This transport, like the Dakota, Constellation and Comet, just looks right.
In any new design there are two periods when interest is greatest; first, when the aircraft starts flying and takes a few people for a ride; and secondly, when it has gained a C. of A. The C. of A. recently granted to the Viscount was issued by the A.R.B. after about 280 hours' flying had been done with the aircraft; the actual tests ran to some 140 hours. To date the aircraft has accumulated about 300 hours and done over 340 landings, during which general evaluation data has been obtained on the airframe and Dart turbines.
Full pressurization and icing trials have yet to be made. In addition, a certain number of minor adjustments in the prototype are still necessary to refine the production of 100-odd Viscount 700 transports now in hand.
Basically, the prototype has not been changed during the course of its flight development. This is, indeed, obvious because any major modification takes so long to engineer these days t…
